After the Nightosphere
by jamielordofgingers
Summary: Set after "Daddy's Little Monster". As Finn freaks out from his exposure to Chaotic Evil, Marceline examines herself and what the hero means to her.


After the Nightosphere: An Adventure Time Fanfic 

**AN:** Inspired by a deviantART picture of the same name, cause I doubt Marceline would just walk out on Finn after that whole Chaotic Evil Amulet deal. Look it up, the artist is called SelfRightousSuiside. Watching "Return to the Nightosphere" and "Daddy's Little Monster" is recommended, but not necessary if you're just here for Finnceline.

* * *

"Man Finn, my dad actually likes you." Marceline gave a small scoff through her teeth. "I don't wanna hang out with you anymore." She said flippantly, leaning back slightly and waiting for the clichéd cry of nooooo that usually came from mortals when the punk-rock vampire decided to move on. She was joking of course, but like she'd let the little dork on just yet. Speaking of which…

"Finn?" The boy hero was staring at his wall vacantly, taking deep breaths as his head lolled sideways. Jake quickly moved to his side, waving a hand in front of the kid's face, trying to bring him back to attentiveness. When that and the cheek patting failed, he turned to her for answers.

"Hey, help me out here, I think your dad jacked his brain up!"

Marceline swept around to Finn's other side, taking his head in her hands and inspecting his eyes, which were currently bugging out and twitching. She drew a sharp breath as his hand lashed out, grabbing onto her sweater and clutching it so hard his knuckles began to pale. She bit down on her lip for a second, before pulling him into her lap as her mother used to do when she'd freaked out as a child, his other arm folding around her back, but holding on no less tightly. Jake was twisting himself up in worry as the vampire inspected him. After a few seconds, Marceline let go of Finn's face, exhaling heavily.

"I've got good news, and bad news. Good news is, he's not dying. Bad news is that he's probably not getting much sleep for a while." She was trying to remain calm and casual, even as the dog swirled around the pair with a never ending stream of questions. Finn wasn't in trouble, medically at least. If she was right, (and a thousand years of experience meant she pretty much always was), then Finn was just freaking out from having his mind exposed to a shot of pure Chaotic Evil. For a goody-goody like Finn, it was like adding vinegar to one of Bonnibel's pretend volcanos, but with trauma and visions instead of foam and expulsions from the Candy Kingdom. (Not the best metaphor, but it'd do for now). She explained this to Jake, if only to stop from freaking out more than he was already was. The magical dog stopped in his spiralling, snapping himself back to normal.

"So, how do we fix him?" He asked, hopping from one foot to the other repeatedly, ready to shoot off to start helping. It wasn't that easy. Scaring people, causing this wracked out state of mind? Easy. She could it in her sleep wearing the pinkest, frilliest dress in the world. Helping someone deal with facing the darkest dark, fears and personal demons? Not her territory, not by miles. (Did they still use miles? – Not important!)

"Okay, umm, g-get him into his bed or something." She forced out, mind whirring as she tried to remember all that stuff her mum used to do when she'd gotten upset as a kid. When Jake went to move him from her arms however, the blond just held on all the tighter. The dog shot her a quick look, clearly not pleased with that development, so she shot one back which she hoped would portray her feelings of _"Do you really think I want to be in this situation when I'm probably the worst person in the world to go to for comfort?" _Still, it was easy to get to her feet using her vampire strength, stalking over to Finn's bedroom with assistance from Jake. Prying him away made her feel weirdly… guilty? Watching his hands grab at the air desperately after finally prying him off her and into bed. Watching him shake almost made her get in with him. Shoving that urge down, she turned to Jake, folding her arms and leaning against the wall in an attempt to look apathetic, despite her mind flitting about, awash with thoughts and emotions she thought she'd discarded or suppressed a long time ago. Like, post-mother's death junk.

"If you're lucky, he'll be fine by tomorrow, other than some really messed up nightmares." She said, curling a lock of hair around a pale finger. "And with that, I'm out. See ya." She moved to leave, Jake neatly sidestepping to let her pass, still not quite over his vampire phobia.

"Yeah, he'll probably fix up faster if you ain't hanging around with your weird Nightosphere influence or whatever. Hold in there buddy, I'll get you a drink." The second part was directed at Finn as the two left the bedroom, descending on rubber legs and vampire powers. Jake immediately gave her the cold shoulder as they entered the living room, heading for the kitchen. Not surprising, he probably blamed her for this, even if it was Finn's nature to whack on evil amulets to save his friends. Marceline headed for the exit, still trying to get all these odd thoughts out her head. One stuck out above the others though.

"Hey, where's my axe?"

Jake came out the kitchen, mugs in hand. "Did ya take it to the Nightosphere?" He asked with a shrug, before heading back towards the bedroom. Marceline stood at the door for a moment, rubbing one hand over eyes. "Yes, I must have. Silly me." She muttered in a most un-Marcelinelike tone. Jake cocked an eyebrow.

"Okay, I don't want to know why you slipped into monotone, but if it gets you out quicker, I think we've still got milk." He said, before springing up to the higher levels.

Doubling back to the kitchen, Marceline grabbed the last of their bug milk.

It was magnificent. Ten meticulously stacked layers of meat, cheese, vegetables and swimming in the best sauces the surface world used to produce. Frankly, the Nightosphere would never see a more perfect sandwich. Better yet, no kids around to slap it out his hands.

KERRANG!

Hunson Abadeer promptly found himself introduced to his awesome sandwich on a personal level, face first through his table. Wiping mustard out from his eyes, he looked up at his assailant, who'd taken up one of his chairs, running her thumb across the blade of her guitar-axe.

"Let's have a chat about that amulet, daddy dearest." The Vampire Queen hissed, glaring down upon him. "And my human."

Well that had probably set the father-daughter relationship back about two hundred years, not to mention eating up most of her waking hours. It'd been a long trip getting her axe and then using it to beat her father nine tenths to death (As close as you could get him to it anyway), but it felt worth it. The real question was… why? What was it about seeing the little dweeb all messed up that caused her to do this? Marceline stared up at the dimming stars, thoughts once again revolving around the kid adventurer. Comfort wasn't her thing, but she'd given him something to clutch onto nonetheless. She never put others before herself, but she'd gone and slammed an axe head into the one relationship she knew she'd be forced into putting up with forever, even after Ooo and its denizens had vanished into the dust of time. (Even Simon wouldn't last that long, despite that stupid crown.) Hell, she'd claimed him as her own property, short of marking him as such. (Now that would be amusing. A little M on his chest over his heart, or maybe a full body one. The looks on the collective faces of the princesses of Ooo when she showed that sucker off would be hilarious.) And now, beaten up and ragged, she found herself back in his treehouse, just wanting to go up and check on him if nothing else. Then again, it only seemed fair. It was only because of him she had a salvagable relationship with her father in the first place, not to mention saving her from Ash's scheme to force her back together with him, and her father's one to have her rule the Nightosphere today. All without asking, without the promise of immortality that others indulged her selfish wims for, purely because he thought she was a good person under the grey-blue skin and even in the face of the fact that his blood was probably the best meal she'd ever have, trusting her not to chomp down on him, and frankly some days it was really hard not to grab his stupid face and suck all the red out of him. Arrgh, none of this made any sense! Why bother having anything to do with her in the first place, especially after he'd been so mean to him after they first meet? Hell, she'd almost gotten him killed multiple times, and still he came back for more! She gave a heavy sigh, hoisting the axe onto her shoulder as she floated up her former house.

"_I'm getting soft, and he's an idiot."_

She'd leave at that for tonight, and try and figure this out sometime when she wasn't dusting black magic off her jeans.

Jake had almost bitten his claws down to nubs. Finn was still twitching, tossing and turning. It didn't matter if he was awake or in the short chunks of rest he did get before waking up screaming, his brother could not settle down. One night of nightmares his tail. Still, it was just as well the vampire had cleared off; she'd probably only… "Sup Mutt." Oh Glob she was back!

"You've looked better." He managed to snark at her, even though he was nearly dead on his feet himself. Wait; was that a tentacle coming out of her head? If Marceline knew she gave no sign, stalking over to Finn and giving him an once-over glance.

"No improvement?" she asked, sounding as tried as he did. Jake could only shake his head in response. The vampire paused over his bro for a few seconds, as if weighing something up in her head. With a nod she threw back Finn's animal covers and climbed in with him, dropping out the air.

"Whoa whoa whoa, bad touch you bloodsucker! What'd you doing?"

"Tried, sun's coming up; body contact might help him calm down. Good enough?"

"No, not with that stuff coming out your head! Put that weird stuff away!"

"Huh, didn't even notice it. Must be more out of it then I thought. Don't worry doggie, it won't bite. Can't promise it won't do anything else though." She added with a coy smile as said appendage gave a flick as him. Okay, he was not in the mood for this. His arm extended to extract her from his buddy's bed, only for the bedroom to fade to black.

She caught the dog as he fell asleep, her hair extending to grab him and lowering him to the floor, where he curled up on himself. Dispelling the tentacle, she felt Finn wake beside her, eyes bulging and sweating heavily. His head darted to and thro for a bit as his vision fixed on her.

"Marcie?"

She nodded, and his arms couldn't grab onto her fast enough, clutching onto her in a vicelike grip as if he thought she'd vanish if he dared to release her. She managed to ease him down a little, to a hold less bonecrushing, tussling his hair and pulling the blankets over the two of them again.

"Go to sleep Finn, I'll take care of the monsters out here. " Ugh, what was with her and clichés tonight? Despite of her less than original pep-talk, the hero nodded, burying his face in her chest as he tried once more to get some rest.

"_Typical male."_ She thought with a sigh and a smile, resting one hand on the boy's head. He pretty soft when you got up close and personal with him. No Hambo of course, but a pretty good substitute nonetheless. She'd probably be open to some awkward questions tomorrow if- no, when he recovered from this, but it'd be worth it to get him smiling again. Still, she'd watch over him now, figure out the whys and reasons later. She'd just bail before either of them woke up. Okay, that worked, but... for now... just… watch… for… now.

Jake woke with a blinding neckache at about midday. Pulling himself off the floor, he took a glance around the room, wondering why he wasn't in his bed. Wait, Marceline, that's why. _"Oh Glob, Finn! What about… oh."_

The magical dog gave an exasperated sigh as he watched human and vampire resting, wrapped up around and entangled with each other like him and Lady after… ahem. Well, he'd leave them be for now… but only cause Finn was smiling. Still, no sense in letting perfectly good mocking material go to waste now that his brother was all good again. Now, where was Beemo?


End file.
